| New
England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) Cambridge, MA - U.S.A. |
Laboratory
of Autonomous Robotics and Artificial Life Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies Italian National Research Council (CNR) Via S. Martino della
Battaglia, 44 - 00185 Rome, Italy |
Center
for Computational Ecology (CCE) Yale University New Haven, CT - U.S.A. |
Welcome to my Home Page! I am a permanent researcher and a member of the Institute Committee of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (former Institute of Psychology) of the Italian National Research Council in Rome. I am also a member of the Center of Computational Ecology (Yale University) and an affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute (Cambridge, MA).
I work in a relatively new research field, which is named Artificial Life. The main goal of this kind of research is the simulation and synthesis of living systems into a computer in order to understand "life as it is" and "life as it could be" (Langton, 1989). A few years ago I started a collaboration with evolutionary biologists (Gunter Wagner, Riccardo Galbiati) and cognitive scientists (Domenico Parisi, Stefano Nolfi, Frank Keil), and my current interest is in simulating evolution of body and brain/mind modularity in complex organisms by means of artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms (Calabretta & Parisi, in press; Wagner, Mezey & Calabretta, in press; Calabretta et al., 2000). (Neural networks are computational models of the brain which controls organisms' behavior; genetic algorithms are computational models of Darwinian evolution.)
My research activity also concerns the utilization of Artificial Life simulations and software for the development of multimedia applications in the field of education (Calabretta, 1996; in Italian). For several years I had been a Professor of Educational Technologies at the University of L'Aquila Faculty of Educational Science and I collaborate with Rai Educational.
A recent research interest is in using experimental narrative as educational tool: in 2006 I published a first science-in-fiction novel on emotions called Il film delle emozioni (second edition, Gaffi Editore, Rome; in Italian), and in 2010 the sequel (on "doparie", a new mechanism of participatory democracy) called Doparie, dopo le primarie (Nutrimenti, Rome; in Italian).
Science-in-fiction novel on
participatory democracy and happiness: Doparie,
dopo le primarie
(in Italian)
Personal